The noodle dish from Parasite is going high-end. A slew of restaurants across New York and DC are spooning out bowls of ram-don, hoping to cash in on the meal requested by the wealthy Park family toward the climax of the Oscar-winning film.
But the restaurants are attaching hefty price tags to what is typically a very cheap dish. In New York, menu prices range from $13.95 to $25, and according to NBC News, almost every person ordering fancy ram-don has one thing in common: They’re white.
So what exactly is ram-don?
If you’ve never heard of it, don’t worry. The film’s subtitle translator, Darcy Paquet, invented the term — meant as a mashup of “ramen” and “udon” — for the subtitles of Parasite.
In Korea, the noodle dish is called jjapaguri, and it blends 2 widely available instant-noodle brands, Chapagetti and Neoguri.
Meaning: It’s extremely cheap to buy and make. In the film, the Park family requests jjapaguri with steak on top, unaware of the contradiction between instant noodles and premium meat.
But ram-don enthusiasts might have missed the punchline
With some white Americans ponying up $25 for an instant-noodle dish, Parasite director Bong Joon Ho — who has already pointed out that the US isn’t the best at reading at the movies — once again gets the last laugh.
In fairness, the chefs whipping up fancy ram-don note that the steak and homemade broth are driving up the price. But still, you can buy the instant noodles in jjapaguri for less than 50¢ per ounce.